1 Corinthians 14:12

12 So if you are desiring the things which the Spirit gives, let your minds be turned first to the things which are for the good of the church.

1 Corinthians 14:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:12

Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts,
&c.] Gr. "of spirits"; that is, "of the gifts of the Spirit", as the Syriac version renders it; and we rightly, "spiritual gifts"; the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for which the apostle does not blame them; these being what he had before exhorted them to covet earnestly, and zealously affect and desire: but then he further advises,

seek that ye may excel, to the edifying of the church:
above all, be desirous of such gifts, and of excelling in them, and abounding in the exercise of them, which may be most profitable and edifying to the members of the church; and what these were, and in what manner to be used, he had before signified: the Alexandrian copy reads, seek that ye may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:12 In-Context

10 There are, it may be, a number of different voices in the world, and no voice is without sense.

11 But if the sense of the voice is not clear to me, I am like a man from a strange country to him who is talking, and he will be the same to me.

12 So if you are desiring the things which the Spirit gives, let your minds be turned first to the things which are for the good of the church.

13 For this reason, let the man who has the power of using tongues make request that he may, at the same time, be able to give the sense.

14 For if I make use of tongues in my prayers, my spirit makes the prayer, but not my mind.